


Take Me As I Am

by JadeCharmer



Series: Take Me As I Am [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bucky as he starts to come back into his life and figure stuff out, Bucky likes Twitter, F/M, Gen, Some Swearing, but that's fine because Darcy also likes Twitter, but the possibility of one in the future, not really a relationship story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-11 22:45:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1178852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeCharmer/pseuds/JadeCharmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What catches Bucky's eye, though, as he scrolls through while waiting for Steve, is a tweet with his Winter Soldier tag, Steve’s Cap tag, and Thor’s tag.</p><p> <i>Try to keep it on the lower end nxt time. My commute was disgusting, but the view was fantastic.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Me As I Am

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Jadzia Bear's prompt "Rainy Day," but the story ended up straying. A lot. 
> 
> Either way, it ended up being a fun drabble.

It’s a little known fact, but Bucky Barnes really likes social media. Or, at least some social media. Twitter. Bucky really likes Twitter. It’s a little app on the phone Stark tossed his way one day. An innocuous blue square with a small caricature outline of a bird serves as the symbol that Bucky clicked out of curiosity. SHIELD has staff that manages and approves all tweets going from official Avengers accounts, though Tony usually finds a way around that for his.

Despite that, Bucky knows Steve uses the app, mostly as a platform to speak on issues to which he feels a connection. Kids being bullied, supporting the arts, vet’s rights. He says it’s easier to speak out, to make it feel like a real change, more so than he ever did on a publicity press line. It makes Steve’s day when a kid, a kid so much like Steve, bullied and weak of body, but strong of heart, will send a message to Steve, letting him know his words matter. His words help.

So Bucky starts his own account outside of SHIELD oversight. They can keep @thewintersoldier for all he cares. It’s not who he wants to be in the public, anyway. Instead, he gets away with using @buchanonbarnes. He suspects Tony and Jarvis help in keeping this handle out of SHIELD hands, but if they aren’t going to talk about it, neither is he. He doesn’t say much on the account, but it’s a different way for him to see the world. For him to gain human interaction without people worrying that they need to censor themselves around him. Without people immediately passing judgment just based on his name, his past, having not actually ever said a single word to him.

For a little while, he can be someone else.

Of course, he follows his own @thewintersoldier handle. It’s naïve to not take the information where he can and where the public stands in regards to him is important information. Most of the time, he’s mentioned as an afterthought in tweets about other Avengers, which suits him just fine.

It’s after a long battle one day in midtown, complete with rain because apparently bad guys don’t base their attacks on the weather forecast, when that changes. He’s showered and finally clean, from the rain water, the sweat, and the blood, when he pulls his phone out of his locker at Stark Tower. He half-heartedly unlocks it, opening up Twitter while he waits for Steve so they can go out to eat with the rest of the team.

He’s not surprised that there are a bunch of new tweets about the Avengers, considering the events of the afternoon. As he scrolls through, he finds commentary about the battle itself. He chuckles at the ones where people are taking the piss out of the Fantastic Four for being conspicuously absent, yet again. Then there are the ones that are, inevitably, commenting on the attractiveness of the Avengers. It happens every single time they go out. Tony keeps a count over who gets the most comments, or he did until Steve started winning.

#CapsFabAss is still a trending tag, Bucky notes with no small amount of amusement. He’ll have to make sure to mention it to Steve simply for the fact that Steve hates it even more than Tony.

What catches his eye, though, is a tweet with his Winter Soldier tag, Steve’s Cap tag, and Thor’s tag.

_Try to keep it on the lower end nxt time. My commute was a bitch, but the view was fantastic._

The user is @lightningsister and there’s a picture attached. Bucky clicks the little link and his screen is taken over by a picture of Thor, Steve, and himself, still standing out in the now diminishing rain storm at the end of the battle. It’s a good picture, he has to admit, much better than anything he’s come to expect from a passing stranger.

Thor is standing at the center of their group, Steve on his left and Bucky on his right. The God of Thunder might have the fate of the nine realms resting on his shoulders but, in this moment, all of that weight seems to have vanished in the post-battle high. His head is tipped back in the softly falling rain, hair damp and pulled back. Bucky can still hear the heart-felt laugh escaping, followed up by a steady clap against his metal shoulder. There was no hesitation on the part of the other man in his actions, to treat him as a comrade. Thor is only second to Steve and Natasha in his ability to completely overlook the fact that Bucky is a broken man, both inside and out.

Steve has this little quirk of a smile, the real man peeking out from behind the Commander Rogers facade. He’s not as exuberant as Thor, but, then again, nobody really is. His eyelashes have drops of the rain sticking to them and Steve has his hand on his head, ruffling his blond hair to try to get out some of the water.

The crinkles at the corners of his eyes, though, are what speak volumes to Bucky. Steve’s eyes have always given him away, from back in the days when pride was his weakness and desperation was their pastime. Now, though, Steve looks happy. Truly happy, not just content. He’s a man who not only knows his lot in life, but has accepted it. Embraced it.

What surprises Bucky, though, is his own face. He’s used to seeing the perpetual scowl covering his features, so when he spots the lazy smirk instead, he’s taken aback. He doesn’t even remember making the expression but it’s there, photographic proof in all the colorful glory, right in front of him.

His thumb swipes across the image, enlarging it over his face. That little expression, that inside glimpse at the man he’s slowly starting to become again, slides a small broken piece of himself back into place. It’s a fragile, tender hope, one he desperately wants to grab. He presses and holds his thumb over the image, saving it to his camera roll. He then sets it to his background before he can second-guess the decision.

Just as he sets the image, another tweet comes in, from the same user.

_Have to say, @thewintersoldier is my favorite. But I always did like a dark-haired reformed bad boy._

Bucky lets out a soft laugh, enjoying the forwardness of the woman. Out of curiosity, he looks through her account and, in addition to more sarcastic quips that make him grin, he sees there are a couple other pictures. When he pulls them up, he gets his first glimpse of this woman, dark curly hair tumbling down over her shoulders, her blue eyes alight with life.

His heart twinges in his chest at seeing the happiness on her face as she looks out of the frame at someone, a soft smile playing at her lips. Her figure is a throwback to an old life he only remembers in half-thoughts, all of them made better for being fuzzy and soft lit. Especially in comparison to the ones that are hard-edged, bitter, and bathed in shades of red.

If he were a good man, a worthy man, she’d be the kind of girl he’d make more than a passing attempt at. He is neither good, nor worthy. Nor even much of a man, certainly not whole, at this point.

He does indulge himself, though, and clicks to follow her with his off the books name. Steve has his tweets that brighten his day. This woman, with her witty observations, her smiles that light up the screen and her dancing blue eyes, could possibly be Bucky’s.


End file.
